I had been collecting Avios for a couple of years before I found out you could earn points shopping online. I genuinely thought it was just flights, hotels and Uber. Turns out I'd been leaving points on the table every time I ordered from ASOS, bought something from Boots or booked a hotel. For years. If that sounds familiar, this post is for you.
What is BA Shopping?
BA Shopping (also called the Avios eStore) is a portal run by British Airways that lets you earn Avios on your everyday online purchases. You log in with your British Airways Executive Club account, click through to a retailer, shop as normal — and Avios get credited to your account automatically. No extra cost. No cashback to wait for. Just points for shopping you'd do anyway.
Which retailers are on BA Shopping?
Hundreds. The ones most people already shop at regularly include:
- Boots — beauty, skincare, pharmacy and more
- ASOS — fashion and clothing
- John Lewis — electricals, homeware, fashion
- M&S — clothing and homeware
- Currys — electronics and appliances
- Argos — home, garden, electronics
- Selfridges — department store with higher earn rates
- Booking.com — hotels worldwide
- Hotels.com — another solid travel option
- LOOKFANTASTIC — beauty with consistently good rates
- Harrods — one of the highest rates available
The earn rate varies by retailer and changes regularly. Some offer a fixed number of Avios per order, others offer points per £1 spent. Rates of 6x, 10x or even higher are not unusual during promotions.
How does it actually work?
The key thing to understand is that BA Shopping works using a tracking cookie. When you click through from the BA Shopping portal to a retailer, a cookie gets set in your browser that tells the retailer to credit your Avios.
The order of steps matters:
- Go to the BA Shopping portal (avios.com/en-GB/collect-avios/shopping)
- Search for your retailer
- Click through to the retailer from the portal
- Shop and checkout as normal
If you go directly to the retailer's website without clicking through first, no Avios get credited. That's the catch — and that's why so many people miss out.
A few things that can go wrong
Ad blockers — uBlock Origin, Adblock Plus and similar extensions can block the tracking cookie from being set. If you use an ad blocker, disable it on the retailer's site before activating.
Discount codes — using a third-party discount code can sometimes void the Avios credit. Check the retailer's terms before applying codes.
Timing — Avios don't always arrive immediately. Some retailers credit within a few days, others take up to 90 days. Hotels can take even longer as they wait until after your stay completes.
Returns — if you return an item, the Avios usually get reversed. Worth keeping in mind for high-value purchases.
The real problem: remembering to do it
Even once you know about BA Shopping, the hardest part is actually remembering to activate it before checkout. You're on ASOS browsing, you find what you want, you go straight to checkout — and you only remember afterwards. By then it's too late.
This is exactly why I built Boardingpoints. It's a free Chrome and Firefox extension that sits in your browser and automatically detects when you're on a supported BA Shopping retailer. It shows you the live Avios rate on the badge before you even click, and one click activates your tracking through BA Shopping.
I recently picked up 138 Avios buying a monitor — points I would have completely forgotten about without it. I've also got Avios pending from ASOS and eBay purchases this month. It's already doing exactly what I built it for.
Never miss Avios again — install Boardingpoints free
Get a gentle nudge when you visit participating retailers.